Science Project Ideas for Kids

Gooey, Slippery, Slime is always a fun investigation. You can always “beef-up” the information for more advanced learners.

There are so many wonderful science terms related to slime. Today, I want to introduce a property of slime called viscoelastic. This word is a mixture of two words: viscous and elastic.

viscous The resistance to flowing.

elastic The ability to be stretch by applying a force but returns to its original shape when the force is removed.

viscoelastic The ability to be deformed when a pressure is applied, but when the stress is removed it will slowly recover from some of the deformation.

Discover For Yourself

Demonstrate the viscoelastic property of slime.

1. Form a piece of slime into a ball.
2. Place the slime ball in one hand and squeeze the ball as hard as possible.
3. Open your hand and watch how the slime changes. Does it ever return to the original ball shape?

For instruction to make slime, see  MAKING SLIME